Ian says that he thinks the person he was receiving text messages from was a co-worker of the woman who stole Atlas and was actually holding onto him in Penticton.

“It’s unbelievable, we were just at the end our our rope, every day getting inundated with texts message saying come on where’s the money,” said Ian.

Atlas was lured from his yard and taken into a dark coloured SUV March 9. The golden retriever was in a gated back yard in Ian Galt’s yard while his son, and Atlas’ owner, Taylor was out of town for work.

“Over the past few days Kelowna RCMP have received numerous tips from the public and continued to follow up on a number of potential leads,” said Const. Lesley Smith. “While working closely with the complainant, our members were able to track down Atlas’ location and he was returned to his owner just after 4pm this afternoon”.

This investigation remains ongoing, however locating and returning Atlas to his Kelowna home was our first priority and no further updates will be provided at this time.